


Teach Me To Sleepwalk IX

by thebasement_archivist



Category: The X-Files
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-04-10
Updated: 2002-04-10
Packaged: 2018-11-21 00:03:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11345889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebasement_archivist/pseuds/thebasement_archivist
Summary: Okay, here's where it gets complicated. :) This is way AU. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a challenge was set on TER/MA. To put the boys in an Arabian Nights style situation. Believe it or not, this was originally intended to be a little PWP, but then it grew a plot. It's currently at part six, and still growing. It should explain itself, as the story develops, okay? The title of the story means nothing but sounded great, and was taken from "Sleepwalking" by Ben Lee.





	Teach Me To Sleepwalk IX

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Basement](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Basement), which moved to the AO3 to ensure the stories are always available and so that authors may have complete control of their own works. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [The Basement's collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thebasement/profile).

Teach Me To Sleepwalk IX

## Teach Me To Sleepwalk IX

#### by Beth

Title: Teach Me To Sleepwalk IX  
Author: Beth  
Feedback to:   
Author's Website: http://www.squidge.org/terma/beth/beth.htm  
Date Archived: 04/10/02  
Category: Unclassified     
Pairing: Mulder/Krycek         
Rating: NC-17  
Spoilers:   
Permission to Archive:   
Series or Sequel/Prequel:   
Notes:   
Warnings:   
Disclaimer:   
Summary: Okay, here's where it gets complicated. :) This is way AU. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a challenge was set on TER/MA. To put the boys in an Arabian Nights style situation. Believe it or not, this was originally intended to be a little PWP, but then it grew a plot. It's currently at part six, and still growing. It should explain itself, as the story develops, okay? The title of the story means nothing but sounded great, and was taken from "Sleepwalking" by Ben Lee. 

* * *

To everyone... I've been MIA for a while- and for that I'd like to apologise. MAJOR computer problems, including a minor ban thing for something that was _totally_ not my fault... :) 

Alls I wanted to say was that I've finally got my arse in gear, and have completed the next part of "Teach Me To Sleepwalk". For people who don't know, or need a recap or want to read disclaimers etc. ('cos hey, it's been a while) it's a kinda Arabian Nights style AU, and all the parts so far can be found at http://www.squidge.org/terma/beth/sleepwalk.htm 

So yeah. Enjoy. :) 

Beth 

Disclaimers etc in part 1. Thanks as ever to SUPERBETA Ursula, and sympathy and chocolate rats for her bad knee. If there is to be any feedback (oh please, oh please) the adress is 

Sorry for the delay. :) 

* * *

Teach Me To Sleepwalk  
By Beth 

Part IX 

It's never darkest before the dawn. 

Just before the sun rises, the sky turns a beautiful turquoise so luminescent that a painter would be ridiculed for using it. He has lain awake enough to know the colour; to recognise it as the colour of his birthstone, of his mother's eyes. They are the only true beauty that remains on her face, which is old before its time... until she smiles. Then it is easy to see how she captured the heart of a handsome captain of the Guard, though she was only a maid to one of his men. 

She smiles less and less often these days. Since their affair was discovered, since she bore him a son, the money had been tight. He was forced to resign his post, and her wage could barely support them. But she had still laughed sometimes during his childhood- his memories of her when he was young always seemed happy. Now her face was permanently lined with the pain his father couldn't afford doctors to treat. Alex wondered if she had smiled at all since he'd been gone and what web of lies Spender had spun for her. He wondered if she thought he was dead. 

He wondered if she wasn't right to think that. 

It's always darkest in the middle of the night, the middle of the tunnel, where the twilight of morning and evening can't get a toehold, when the torches have guttered out and there is no sound to distract you from the voices inside your head... That was the darkest time. A time when he tried not to think, tried not to dream, concentrated on the darkness, the nothingness until he slept. And his dreams were full of darkness but at least he didn't have to see what was after him. Didn't have to see Spender's wrinkled face... 

* * *

He was on his feet in an instant, fists clenched, before it registered that Spender wasn't the type to knock. It wasn't something that the old man would even consider. He took a deep breath as the knock sounded again, and his voice was almost normal as he called out an invitation. 

It wasn't entirely a surprise when the Prince's face appeared around the door, but it caused an emotion that he refused to identify. Instead, he lowered his eyes and bowed to the other man before retreating to the other side of the small room. He gestured to the only chair, but instead the Prince grinned and sat on the bed, raising an eyebrow at its crumpled state. 

"You couldn't sleep either?" Alex didn't know quite how to respond to the tone of that question, and when he had been silent for a second Fox visibly let it pass. He looked around curiously, noting the sparse decorations, the hard and narrow bed, the small window that faced in entirely the wrong direction to give any light. 

"Once there was a demon..." It was said so quietly, in such a distracted manner, that Alex wondered for a time if the comment had been directed at him. He looked at the Prince curiously, and received only a grin as his response. 

"Once there was a demon..." Stronger this time. More sure. He frowned, and shifted on his feet. "How can I tell a story if you insist on standing, and breaking the narrative flow? Sit down and make yourself comfortable." He settled back obligingly on the uncomfortable chair and watched as the Prince made himself comfortable on the bed, resting his head on his hand. 

* * *

There was once a demon. He was neither the most evil nor the most powerful, but he had other qualities that recommended him to the highest authority in the demon planes. 

The first of these distinctions was his beauty. He was not necessarily the most beautiful, for many had found the temptations that beauty brings too much, and had fallen into the Morning Star's clutches. There was something about this demon in particular, however... his hair was sleek and dark like a raven's wing, and his skin as pale and perfect as the finest marble. But it was his emerald eyes that had tempted so many legions throughout the ages. 

The second distinction was his cunning. The tale was told that it was he that had tricked the Snake God's wife into giving up his precious silver plate and many diamonds... dropping them in his flight so that they fell into the night sky and took their places as the moon and stars. 

But his most highly prized quality, the one that set him so far apart from the others, was his pure heartlessness. Throughout history he had started bloody battles, coldly watched the slaughter of innocents, stood by as plagues decimated whole kingdoms... he did not delight in his work, as did some of his fellows, but he was the better for it. Not once did he show even the slightest regret. And it was this that had caused the Lord Samael to call him into his presence. 

He was given a quest. One of the many gods had been petitioning the Authority, the Creator, to give him Samael's place as ruler of the demon legions. He had argued long and hard and the Authority was considering, swayed by the promise of the intended redemption of souls... redemption that would swell his forces by so much that any threat from the demon planes would instantly be quashed. 

Samael was furious, and had chosen to take vengeance... for although gods could not be truly killed, they could certainly be reduced. And this was his task. To remove the threat to Samael's reign in a way that could not directly implicate the ruler of Pandemonium. 

And so he set out, disguising himself as a holy man and entering the service of the god's temple. He worked hard to set himself apart from his fellows, carrying out his duties diligently and spending the little money he had on sacrifices in the god's honour. One night, after the other acolytes had gone to their sparse quarters, he saw behind the altar a shimmering light. Smiling inwardly, he carefully placed a reverential look upon his face and walked slowly to the light. 

Standing behind the fanciful statue that graced the altar was a young man. He perhaps would not have drawn overmuch attention to himself had he not been glowing faintly with a golden light. But then the figure raised his eyes to meet those of the demon, and he could barely prevent a gasp from escaping the lips of his assumed body. For the eyes of the young man were more beautiful than anything he had before seen. They glowed with all the light of the heavens and seemed to see into his very soul. He lowered his eyes quickly, and dropped to his knees; as much to give himself time to recover as to display a show of reverence. 

The angel spoke to him, telling him of his master, the god's gratitude for the loyal service that the demon had shown. And he promised him a visit from the god himself- the gardens of the temple were a favourite place of his in the early morning. They would walk together there, the day after the next. 

He had not expected so little time to prepare, but such was his cunning that he was able to formulate a plan... and he waited patiently for the day to arrive. He could not be said to be eager, for such emotion- any emotion- had not affected him in millennia. But he found himself feeling something when he recalled the golden eyes of the angel that had spoken with him... and he had no idea how to recognise this emotion. For the young man had affected his heart; the demon had fallen in love for the first time in his existence. 

The day came, and it was more beautiful than any day had ever been before. The flowers had dressed in their very best to greet the god that now walked among them, and the demon felt something stir within him. It almost seemed shameful to destroy something on a day like that... but he put foolish sentimentality aside in order to carry out his task. 

He flattered the god, praising him for his great power... but mentioned that he had heard some of the priests saying that the god who was worshipped in the temple opposite was far more powerful. He hastily denounced the claims, telling the god that of course he was the more powerful, and there was no need to prove it... 

As he had predicted, the god ranted against these false claims; he chose to prove his power by turning into the various creatures that the demon suggested, finally becoming a tiny flea. The demon instantly snatched him up and locked him into a black glass bottle, the only thing that was entirely impervious to any magic the god could summon. He concealed the glass bottle in the wastelands to the North, and returned to the temple gardens to appreciate the last day of his time in the human realm. There he found the angel that had affected him so strongly, weeping heartbreakingly for the loss of his father. 

At this, the demon cried out in pain, for he realised that he had lost any chance he might once have had of the angel looking at him with anything other than hatred. And he fled at once; but not back to the demon realms to tell Lord Samael of his victory. Instead he took refuge in the very wastelands that had swallowed his enemy. 

There he lived for a thousand years, every day remembering the angel with the golden eyes and cursing his very nature... the nature that had deemed him suitable for the task that had brought so much pain to his beloved. 

After a thousand years, he was visited in the wastelands by a host of mighty angels, all more golden and more splendid than the one he had seen before but none could match his simple beauty. They called him before the Almighty, and he was escorted in to His presence. 

There he stood as the charge was read out to him. After a thousand years, the bottle had finally shattered, releasing the god and enabling him to bring his charges against the demon and finally have revenge. The demon stood still throughout, making not the slightest effort to try to refute the charges laid on him. Any punishment they gave him could never atone for the heart he had broken. 

At last the Almighty spoke to him, recognising the sorrow in his heart and asking if he regretted what he had done. The demon finally raised his head and stated that he regretted only the pain he had caused to a beautiful young man. A buzz of anger ran through the assembled gods, and only silenced when the Almighty spoke, asking if anyone would speak up for this demon? Could anyone offer a word in his defence? 

There was a disturbance at the back of the hall, and then the demon started at a familiar voice. "I will speak up for him, lord." 

The angel's father was outraged, and had to be held back by several of the lesser gods to prevent him from leaping upon his son. 

The Authority spoke to the young angel. //Why would you speak for a demon that has reduced your father so for a thousand years? A demon, no less, one of thee sworn enemies of our kind?// 

"He acted according to his nature, Lord. Would you likewise punish the Snake God for eating the sun each night and creating it anew each morning? He is a demon. Without him and his kind, how can we exist? What are we, if not an alternative to the darkness that is a part of every man, woman and child in the human realm and is personified in these demons? He is not all evil. Even demons can go against their nature, and he has proven it by showing regret; fleeing to the wastelands for a thousand years when Samael must be singing his praises to all in Pandemonium. Without him, we cannot exist my Lord." He turned to the demon and looked into the eyes that now showed a love so pure that it silenced the protests of even the highest of the gods. "Without him, _I_ cannot exist". 

The Almighty showed lenience to them both, allowing them to live together in the wastelands that had sheltered the demon for so long. And when they finally returned to the dust from whence they had come, the Authority placed them in the heavens as glittering stars, so that they could never be parted. 

* * *

The silence after he had finished speaking was so pure that for a moment the Prince wondered if the prisoner had fallen asleep. He turned his head and started at the expression in the eyes that stared at him from the twilight of morning. Eyes that reflected the turquoise of the sky, that held in them an emotion that made them all the more beautiful, an expression that he hadn't seen in them before, hope. 

He beckoned silently, and Alex slowly approached him. For the second time in this man's presence, the prince closed his eyes and waited for a kiss... and this time it came- as soft as a moth's wing brushing his lips and then gone almost before it was felt. Without opening his eyes, he shifted forward on the bed, sighing softly as he felt the warmth of another body curl up behind his back. It wasn't long before both men fell deeply into a dreamless sleep. 

* * *

When Alex woke, the light outside the window proved it to be far later than he had slept in a long time. Of course he was alone, and he wondered if the entire night's events had been a dream... but the sheets on his bed were still warm. 

* * *

If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to Beth 


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